by Paul Benson
This Halloween Parkland hosted its 10th Annual Pennies for Pumpkins charity Fundraiser event. The event took place in the college center between 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM on Wednesday, October 31st. Between heading to class, grabbing a bite at Betsy’s Bistro, congregating with friends, or on their way home, many students were seen lending spare change to the pumpkins of their choice.
The event, sponsored by Alpha Phi Omega (APO) and The Office of Student Life, encourages student organizations here at Parkland to carve their own individual pumpkin and then promote it at the event in an effort to raise money for charity. Students then vote with their spare change, (or bills,) for which pumpkin they like the best. Whichever student organization collects the most amount of money, gets to decide which charity will receive all the money that was raised for the event. Last year the event raised over $400 dollars for St. Jude’s. This year the Student American Dental Hygienists Association raised the most money and they plan to give the money to the non-profit dental program, SmileHealthy.
There were a lot of organizations participating. Every group had their own creative and unique pumpkin to show off. A member from Alpha Phi Omega said “So, it’s a pink pumpkin. We just tried to make it look unique and spooky. You know, go with that Halloween look, that October look. But, at the same time we wanted to make it look unique so, we made it pink.”
Next to the Alpha Phi Omega table was the Astronomy club table. When asked about their pumpkin, the student operating that booth said “It’s supposed to represent the blood moon and I painted that, because it’s astronomy club and I thought it’d be fun to have a blood moon.” She then pointed to a big globe of the Moon sitting next to her on the table and said “we’ve got the actual moon here.” She points to some candy and continues, “along with some Milkyways and Starbursts. a-hem, space jokes.” Most people at the event seemed to be in a friendly Halloween mood.
The Vet Tech students were proud of their wiener dog pumpkin. If their pumpkin collected the most, they were planning to give the charity money to the Humane Society. “We worked hard on it and it’s pretty cute, in my opinion,” said one of the Vet Tech students. “I think it’s really cool to see all of the clubs get together and show off what they do in the pumpkins… And, to be able to walk around and see what all the departments are about is really neat to.” The Vet Tech students have won almost every year except last.
The Student American Dental Hygienists Association, (SADHA) had two Star Wars themed pumpkins at their booth. They also had little signs that said “May The Floss Be With You.” Peg Boyce, Dental Hygiene Program Co-Director , was dressed as a Witch, and holding
down the booth while the students were in class.“We love the pumpkin carving contest. We often times win it. If we win it, the money goes to our favorite charity, which is SmileHealthy. A dental non-profit that’s here in town. It was actually started by one of our graduates, probably 12-14 years ago. So, it helps children and adults get dental care, that can’t afford to go to the dentist. So that would be the organization we would support,” Boyce said.
Overall this is a fun event for students. Surgical Tech had an intricate pumpkin doctor made with syringes, sutures, and other surgical instruments. Student Government had a Spiderman meme pumpkin that said, “It is Hallowednesy my dudes.” The Phi Theta Kappa pumpkin had a gooey brain inside their pumpkin, with font on the outside saying, “We Want Your Brains.” The Parkland Science Club carved a beaker shape into their pumpkin and put some electric candle lights inside. Last, but not least, the Pride group painted a glittery drag queen on their pumpkin. Complete with a brunette wig.
It was an exceptionally spooky Parkland day.
